Katalysator-1
Description Realizing what the German scientists had, they attempted to produce large amounts of it in a hurry (having a negative effect on quality), and give it to as many of those they believed were loyal to the Third Reich (or strongly opposed to the Soviets) as they could. It didn't take them very long to realize that doses large enough to produce truly impressive powers also left the victims quite mad, often leaving them useless, or even a threat to their own side (especially if given lower-quality drugs). By the time the scientists and their SS supervisor knew of the problem, a few of the test subjects had either defected to the Allies (including one nurse who brought the formula for the drug, along with a small case of samples, to Field Marshal Montgomery), or had made a mess, intentionally or otherwise, of Berlin's defences... and defenders, in some cases. Berlin was captured by the Soviet Union on May 8, 1945 (about a week later than on Homeline), with some of the new psychics inflicting significant casualties on the Red Army, about 27% more than in Homeline's history; near the end of the battle, even some Allied prisoners were given the drug, so long as the telepaths read them as strongly anti-communist. Hitler appears to have committed suicide on May 5; the doctors were unable to save the Fuehrer's life, though rumours abound that with the help of one or more of the new psychics, they saved Hitler's brain. Of the scientists who knew how to make the drug, one was captured by the Soviets, two were killed (or had committed suicide), one had been transferred to an unknown location before the battle, and the last had injected himself with a fairly large dose of the catalyst on May 6, and vanished immediately upon waking up. Following the war, the British traded the formula for America's data on the atomic bomb, and a serious reduction in Britain's war debt - they had sufficient 'relatively stable' telepaths and probability alterers that they could have just taken the information, but in the face of the Soviet threat (and learning from their espers and other intelligence assets that Russia probably had at least one of the scientists who developed the drug), Churchill wished to maintain good relations with the US. Even this could not allow the British to keep India in the Empire, although it did delay their leaving until 1950, and result in a less united subcontinent, with the Princely States retaining independence with British backing, and in several cases, being strong supporters of the new Imperial Commonwealth. In Europe in 1950, Heligoland gained a status similar to the Channel Islands, while the British Occupation Zone was leaning closer to Britain. In 1954, Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of the Dominion of Hannover. French opinion on this was somewhat ambiguous: on the one hand, keeping Germany divided was very much in their national interest; on the other, potentially being surrounded by Perfidious Albion was very much not. The Americans and Soviets were even less pleased, but Eisenhower was not inclined to go against the will of the German people in that area, and Beria did not bring sufficient pressure to bear to prevent it (it is debatable whether he even could have, as he was struggling to stay in power, and thus alive, since Stalin's assassination in 1952; the complete failure of the communist revolution in France in 1955, and the reactionary government that rose in response, sealed his fate: he was assassinated on October 25th of that year). 1955 was also the year that the formula for the catalyst drug ceased to be Top Secret - not because the various governments did not want it to be, but because too many people that they did not control knew it, including some in the employ of organized crime. On June 17, 1949, a gestalt of British teleporters successfully sent a rotating TV camera, battery, and a powerful radio transmitter from Whitehall in London to Mons Bradley, on the Moon (previous, secret tests had used film cameras, or transmitted on rarely-monitored frequencies). They retrieved the lot after about an hour. Less than a week later, the same group sent a scientist in a prototype counterpressure spacesuit, having previously sent (in many stages) the various parts and supplies for a prefabricated moon-base, designated Royal Moon Station Bradley; he was safely retrieved two and a quarter hours later, having begun the assembly of the base, and collected several moon-rock samples. The Soviets claimed to have had a man on the Moon prior to this, but could not offer adequate proof; the earliest confirmed presence of a Russian on the Moon is in June or July, 1950 (the approximate date of death of an unidentified body in a spacesuit bearing the Soviet flag, found in Firmicus crater in 1953), and the earliest Soviet known to have visited the Moon and returned alive was Georgy Beregovoy in August, 1950. The US, having fewer reliable teleporters at the time, but better psi-tech, especially in the area of psychokinesis, demonstrated a flying saucer (Convair X-5) on July 4, 1949, which made three orbits of the Earth, transmitting voice and images from on-board (the vehicle had to be manned, as it could only amplify existing psychokinetic forces), as well as filming several reels in technicolor, and performing a few experiments. A larger and more advanced saucer (Selene 1) took five Americans to the Moon, landing in Mare Serenitas on September 7, 1950, with US Army Space Corps Captain Donald K. Slayton being the first American to walk on the Moon. The Soviet Cosmic Fleet was discovered by the CIA to have built a monkey-copy of the Selene saucers in 1951 (prompting some very serious investigative work by US counter-intelligence services), but did not officially disclose their use of saucers until 1958, when they showed off the long-range Venera 1 saucer in October. The vehicle, commanded by Vladymir Komaraov, left for Venus on November 2, and arrived on May 7, 1959 (the distance was and is too far for reliable teleportation, even at closest approach), making contact with the primitive (late TL0^-early TL1^) natives on May 15. The new United States Space Forces (amalgamated from the USASC and USNSS) managed to land the saucer Aphrodite 1, commanded by Major John Glenn, on Venus in August of that year, also meeting the natives, but prior to that, President Eisenhower ordered the USSF to have a man on Mars 'before anyone else.' They succeeded in this in March of 1966, with Lt. Col. 'Gus' Grissom taking the first steps on Mars while all of Earth watched. The Martian natives sought them out, and proved to have highly eccentric technology, being mostly TL3^, but with a few items and some knowledge from much higher TLs, evidence of a fallen civilization. In 1953, a Jump Beacon was installed in Serenity Base, finally allowing the US to teleport to the Moon (similar beacons are in place at US Army Space Corps and US Navy Space Service bases on Earth); these beacons would be replaced with sets of Psychotronic Teleportals in 1960. Mass producible psi amplifiers appear to have been an American monopoly until 1957, when the Soviets began making them, and spies from both the UK and China stole the plans, and photographed the factories. Psychotronic Generators appear to have been among the first psychotronic devices invented, but it was not until 1958 that generators that did not need to be frequently or constantly 'primed' with lesser amounts of the same power (or even the same ability) were developed - though they do still require the user to have a psi ability of some type, even if just a perk. By 1959, it had been confirmed that the children of active psis consistently gain powers of their own around puberty, though it was already known that just being around psis for long periods could potentially lead to abilities developing. In 1968, archaeologists at Cydonia Planitia on Mars found a treasure trove of ancient Martian technologies; while very little is currently understood about them as yet, some items that are still operational have made it onto the black market, giving people in this worldline access to various poorly understood examples of TL11^ self-repairing technology. By the time Infinity found this TL(7+1)^ world, during the local year 1971, they had developed top-notch mental health services, excellent trauma medicine, and sophisticated psi tech, including a range of psi drugs. Most major nations have moon bases and orbital stations, and each of the six Great Powers (Brazilian Empire, British Imperial Commonwealth, Republic of China, Third French Empire, USA, and USSR) have landed people on Venus and Mars. Their understanding of mundane rocketry lags well behind Homeline in the same period, being closer to 1957 than 1977, due to the availability of teleporters and psychokinetics. Computer science also lags behind Homeline's 1970s, though not as far, being roughly around 1967's technology, apart from a few bizarre one-offs that appear to be psionically assisted. The Cabal does not appear to have any interest in (or perhaps awareness of) this no mana world. (Unknown to Infinity, most intelligence services are aware that they've been visited by agents seemingly arriving from the future, or possibly from alternate worlds - the latter is believed to be less likely - and their respective governments have had high-level meetings about it. Worse from Infinity's PoV, some Gadgeteers in this worldline have been trying to reverse-engineer the conveyors from what little their Espers have been able to determine about them, and are making progress.) Category:Fan Settings Category:Reality Classification Category:Quantum 5 Category:Myth Parallels Category:No Mana